Does living by the coast improve health and wellbeing?

Abstract

It is often assumed that spending time by the coast leads to better health and wellbeing, but there is strikingly little evidence regarding specific effects or mechanisms to support such a view. We analysed small-area census data for the population of England, which indicate that good health is more prevalent the closer one lives to the coast. We also found that, consistent with similar analyses of greenspace accessibility, the positive effects of coastal proximity may be greater amongst more socio-economically deprived communities. We hypothesise that these effects may be due to opportunities for stress reduction and increased physical activity.

Exploring the relationship between childhood obesity and proximity to the coast: A rural/urban perspective

“…Rural/urban differences were controlled for since childhood obesity has been shown to differ between urban and rural locations (HSCIC, 2013;Ridler et al, 2011) and since Wheeler et al (2012) found a stronger effect of coastal proximity on health and wellbeing in urban areas. The MSOA classification consists of four morphology codes -urban conurbation, urban city and town, rural town and fringe and rural village and dispersed -and a population density scale of 'sparse' or 'not sparse' is applied (Bibby and Brindley, 2013).…”

“…Since a very low number of MSOAs (4) in the most rural class were within the 0-1km coastal category, the two rural classes were aggregated. A similar approach to urban/rural categorisation has been used in previous relevant studies (Mitchell and Popham, 2007;Wheeler et al, 2012), although these were based on higher resolution geographies. The percentage of greenspace (area density) was included as a potential confounder due to its association with childhood obesity (Cetateanu and Jones, 2014;Coombes et al, 2010).…”

“…Furthermore Elliott et al (2015) report that overall adult energy expenditure is greater when visiting coastal environments, in comparison to the countryside or urban greenspace, due to the relatively longer duration of the visit. These are set in the context of a study by Wheeler et al (2012) indicating that self-reported good general health was higher with proximity to the coast and that this effect was stronger for urban and more deprived communities, hypothesising that this could be attributed to greater opportunities for physical activity and stress reduction.…”

“…Additionally, since the NCMP outcomes from 2012/13 found that children from urban areas, in general, experienced higher levels of obesity than their rural counterparts (HSCIC, 2013) and Wheeler et al (2012) found a stronger effect of coastal proximity on health and wellbeing in urban areas, the relationship is tested for modification by urban/rural location.…”

Seeking everyday wellbeing: The coast as a therapeutic landscape

“…Positive associations between coastal proximity and indicators of general health, mental health and physical activity have been identified (Bauman et al, 1998;Witten et al, 2008), even after controlling for the level of green space in the living environment (Wheeler et al, 2012;White et al, 2013a;. In this paper, we explore the diverse therapeutic experiences sought out at the coast, drawing on the findings of an in-depth, interpretive, mixed methods study conducted with residents of two coastal towns in south west England.…”